VIDEO Concern, questions surround community police changes

TROY -- Proclaiming at a press conference that "community policing works," new Police Chief John Tedesco said he intends to cut the number of community police officers but train all officers to bring such an approach to their jobs.

"Nowhere is it written that you have to be in a community police unit to do community policing," Tedesco said in a press conference at City Hall Wednesday. "I think that's the way to do it -- on a department-wide basis."

His re-organization proposal calls for moving some community police officers to regular patrol as part of a plan for an increased presence on the city's streets. Each of the city's zones, however, will retain their dedicated officer for the time being.

"There will be no diminished service whatsoever," said Tedesco, who first implemented the program when it was conceived years ago.

Advertisement

The department budgeted for 10 community police officers in 2009, one of whom was out on leave most of the year. Tedesco's plan calls for seven in the coming year, and he said he hopes to phase out the unit in future years but retain its approach in all aspects of the department.

At a meeting of the City Council's Public Safety Committee Wednesday, the new chief was asked at length what impact his approach would have. Chairman Bill Dunne, D-District 4, said he was concerned about cutting a community police officer.

"I think community policing has played an incredible role in working with neighborhood folks and getting people involved in the community," he said. "We've seen the number of community groups flourish. I think that's a great thing."

Members of a slew of community groups were in attendance to express their concerns. Most said community policing had produced impressive results.

"Since the inception of community policing, I've seen crime on the streets go way down," said George Regan, who lives in Little Italy.

Tedesco stressed shifting personnel would have no impact, saying community policing "has many faces." He said new recruits will take courses in community policing so they bring that approach to their patrol beats.

"This has to get to be an operational method in the department," he said.

Union president Bob Fitzgerald decried cutting community police officers, and said those remaining will be burden with extra work that will prevent them from effectively serving their communities.

He said they are assigned a litany of tasks other officers do not receive, such as grant writing, gang prevention, anger management, and attending community events and seminars. If their numbers are diminished, he said the workload will increase and they will spend less time in their respective communities.

"They're literally the backbone of this department in getting things done," he said. "To eliminate jobs over there, it's condensing all the work on less people."

Tedesco also said the officers should not be performing clerical work like grant writing and should instead be out of the streets. He said that's something he plans to address.

Dunne said he would reach out to Tedesco in a few months to have him come back before the committee to evaluate the changes he plans to implement.